Typically, owners and users of watercraft, including fishing boats, recreational power boats, personal watercraft (PWC), and the like, require some means for storing and/or securing such watercraft to a dock or other waterside structure. In many circumstances, it is advantageous to employ floating, drive on ports such as the EZ-Port® by EZ Dock® or the Safe Haven™ by Southeaster Dock and Platform, just to name a few. These floating ports offer many advantages over alternative securing/storage mechanisms (e.g., tying a watercraft to a dock or trailering the watercraft out of the water with a vehicle) including the ability to store the watercraft out of the water, the ability to drive the watercraft onto the port and step off onto a solid surface without the boat moving relative to that surface, and the ability to accommodate such a port in areas subject to changing water levels (e.g., tidal areas).
Unfortunately, floating ports such as those discussed above are limited to use in relatively calm water. In fact, use of such floating port devices in areas subject to rough water, such as on large bodies of water, areas exposed to extreme weather, or high traffic areas, is typically prohibited by floating port manufacturers because the floating ports cannot withstand the stresses associated with use in rough water areas. Accordingly, those who need to secure/store watercraft on waterways subject to rough water conditions are generally precluded from making use of floating ports.
Traditionally, those who desire to store/secure their watercraft in rough water areas may utilize a boat lift mechanism. Such boat lift mechanisms generally employ liftable bunks configured to correspond to the hull of the watercraft, much in the same way bunks are employed on corresponding boat trailers. The bunks are configured to be lowered beneath the waterline and the watercraft is then positioned above the bunks. As the bunks are raised, they receive the watercraft's hull and are then lifted further, thereby raising the bunks and the watercraft above the waterline to a position high enough to avoid any rough water, and when combined with a shelter, any undesirable weather that may occur. Consequently, the bunks must generally be deployed below the waterline in order to allow the watercraft to be positioned above them—a location that makes use of such a device difficult because the bunks are obscured or impossible to see. Moreover, a user of such a lift must generally park the boat and, undesirably, step out of the boat onto the dock in conditions where the boat may be moving relative to the dock.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a solution for watercraft owners desiring the advantages of a floating port but who may be located in areas where rough water precludes such use. Specifically, it would be desirable to have a system that includes a floating port that allows a watercraft owner to take advantage of the benefits associated therewith, that is also configured to be lifted out of the water, thereby enabling the watercraft owner to use the floating port in areas subject to rough water.